Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.Alt URL /ref> Its purpose was to spread information and raise awareness of issues related to social change, including
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
,
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
, the
environment
Environment most often refers to:
__NOTOC__
* Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally
* Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...
,
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
, social and economic oppression, consumerism,
feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and gender issues. It ran by an open, non-hierarchical collective of volunteers at 32 Yitzhak Sadeh Street, Tel Aviv.
Activities
Salon Mazal had a lending
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
, a shop and a space for meetings, lectures, workshops and film screenings.''
Maximum RocknRoll
''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly zine of punk subculture. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and hardcore music, and primarily featur ...
'', Issue 235 (December 2002). Retrieved on July 11, 2008. "The place is 100% vegan straight edge. called Salon Mazal and has a library, along with books, zines, and music for sale." Occasionally there are other projects on various topics of interest, such as youth group meetings,
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
lessons, DIY workshops, a reading group of anarchist texts.
The lending and reference library stocks several thousand books on subjects related to social change, of which roughly half are in English. The idea behind it is to enable people to read books without encouraging them to buy, thus creating an alternative to the existing consumer culture. Salon Mazal prints and publishes materials on a variety of subjects, including a DIY guide, a guide on wise consumerism, a translated booklet on
permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...
, translated anarchist texts, booklets on feminism for men and women.
Workshops, lectures, film screenings, group discussions and meetings on different subjects are held several times a week, open to the public and are free of charge. Salon Mazal also provides a space for study, organization, meeting, planning and working on initiatives and projects for social change, free of charge. Groups who have used the space over the years for their meetings include
Anarchists Against the Wall
Anarchists Against the Wall (AAtW), ( he, אנרכיסטים נגד גדרות) sometimes called "Anarchists Against Fences" or "Jews Against Ghettos", is a direct action group composed of Israeli anarchists and anti-authoritarians who oppose the ...
, Indymedia, One struggle, Woman for Woman, Kelaf (The Lesbian Feminist Community), A garden for Peace, The Coexistence Forum in the Negev, The Community Advocate, Shatil - Mixed Cities Project, The Center for Alternative Knowledge and The Committee against House Demolition, the Alternative youth summer camp, New Profile.
Store
Salon Mazal was one of the distribution points for
fair trade
Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...
products in Israel (coffee, cocoa and olive oil), which was sold at the shop. The market for these products is still very small in Israel, mainly due to lack of awareness. They also offer
olive oil
Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
Tulkarm
Tulkarm, Tulkarem or Tull Keram ( ar, طولكرم, ''Ṭūlkarm'') is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located in the Tulkarm Governorate of the State of Palestine. The Israeli city of Netanya is to the west, and the Palestinian cities of N ...
and olive oil soaps from Palestinian farmers in
Budrus
Budrus ( ar, بٌدرُس) is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, located 31 kilometers northwest of Ramallah in the northern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the village had a ...
. The products are imported by
Green Action
Green Action ( hr, Zelena akcija) is an environmental organisation based in Zagreb, Croatia and the national member of Friends of the Earth. Based with a full-time activist group with thirteen members back by a larger number of volunteers, the orga ...
environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment (biophysical), environment through depletion of resources such as quality of air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems; habitat destruction; the extinction of wildlife; an ...
. In addition, they distribute flyers and booklets on fair trade and hold lectures on the subject.
The infoshop is one of the only places in Israel where self-made products and self-published books can be distributed. People are encouraged to sell their products, including artwork, books, poetry books, homemade jams, deodorants, self made political T-shirts and other products made by individuals. In this way the infoshop encourages local, non-industrial production and supports local independent producers.